Right touch keeps luminarias safe

Wednesday

Nov 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2007 at 5:32 AM

For each of the past 16 years, dozens to hundreds of visitors have meandered at night through a two-thirds-mile-long walking path at Severson Dells in Rockford dotted with 400 cut-down plastic milk jugs containing lighted candles.

Georgette Braun

For each of the past 16 years, dozens to hundreds of visitors have meandered at night through a two-thirds-mile-long walking path at Severson Dells in Rockford dotted with 400 cut-down plastic milk jugs containing lighted candles.

And there’s never been a safety problem that Don Miller, executive education director of the Dells’ Nature Center, can remember. No one’s been burned. No fires have started. Miller is expecting more of the same at the next Silent Lights Luminary Walk Dec. 8.

Jean Homan, who lives in the Tullocks Woods subdivision in Rockford, can’t recall any fire trouble either with luminarias at her home. She and her late husband displayed them along their driveway and in front of their property for more than a dozen years when their kids were young. And for the fourth year, she’ll display a luminaria at her home on the same day others in her subdivision do, also Dec. 8.
Miller and Homan say proper handling of luminarias can avoid problems.

“We put just enough sand (1 to 1.5 inches) in the bottom to weight down the jug so it doesn’t blow over, and just enough to hold the candle,” Miller said. Severson uses votive-size candles that burn for up to five hours.

Homan uses plastic containers as well, and fills each with two inches of water, which is a little less than halfway up the candle she puts in the container. Many others in her subdivision buy paper bags for their luminarias through the Tullocks Woods Association, which she said pays for the sand residents need to put in the bottom of the bags. Cost is $3.50 for 10 bags and 10 candles, she said.

Miller and Homan advise finding a level place to set the bags or containers and not placing them anywhere near flammable objects. Watch out for the windy conditions, too, that can cause bags to tilt and burn.

Why bother with any of it? “It makes the area look so peaceful,” Homan said.

Time to go light-seeing
Let us know about your luminaria by e-mailing the details to go@rrstar.com.

River District Luminaria Display for the East Side of the River, 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, from the 500 block to the end of the 200 block of East State Street, Rockford, free, 815-871-7585.